Category: #Relationships #love

Making Life an Adventure

My Courage

“’Go back?’ he thought. No good at all! ‘Go sideways?’ Impossible! ‘Go forward?’ Only thing to do! On we go!” – the Hobbit

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” –Matthew 6:25-34

 

Since graduating college, I have spent most of these past months in worry. I worry about nearly everything I’m afraid of many things. I’m afraid of where I’m at in life right now. I’m afraid of what the future holds. I’m also afraid that if I don’t get my life started right NOW, I won’t have much of a life to look forward to.

Another thing in particular that has me worried is that I will never be able to move out of my comfort zone. There are so many things I have dreamt about doing in my life after finishing school. Now that that time has come, I feel as though I’m not ready yet. I feel hesitant to go out and do the things I want. I’ve become too comfortable in my comfort zone.

 

Sometimes, we get too comfortable in where we are at in our lives. We become afraid of stepping out of our comfort zone.

 

A story that relates perfectly to this is that of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo was perfectly comfortable living in his hobbit hole in the Shire. No one bothered him. Bilbo had his books, his chair and his second breakfasts. Bilbo had created a reasonably safe life for himself. Although Bilbo had once dreamed of leaving the Shire in search of adventure, fear of the outside world had set in. Bilbo decided he was more comfortable in his hobbit hole than out making an adventure of life. His heirlooms and books became more important to him than the quality of life. Bilbo’s life was comfortable.

Keeping life comfortable soon changed once Gandalf and the dwarves showed up. Gandalf urged him to come along on the adventure to the Misty Mountains. Being perfectly comfortable in his life, Bilbo declined the offer.

“Life is not in your books and your maps. It’s out there.” Gandalf told him.

 

Fear keeps us from becoming who we were meant to be and doing the things we want. As much as we ask God to take our fears away from us, he does not always let us take the easy way out. Instead, he works with our fears, teaching us how to overcome them.

 

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. “- Psalm 23:1-4

 

Along his adventure, Bilbo walked through many dark valleys and came across many dangerous creatures. While he was still afraid and all hope seemed lost, Gandalf always came when he needed him. Gandalf came to Bilbo’s aid when the orcs and the goblins were too much. Although it seemed like he was gone forever at times, Gandalf did not forget about Bilbo and his journey. While on his journey, Bilbo did things he could have only imaged in his books at home.  He outsmarted Gollom, escaped the orcs and defeated a dragon.  Bilbo not only returned with stories to tell, but with more courage and faith in himself than when he left.

Gandalf came to Bilbo in his hobbit hole and encouraged him to go and make an adventure out of life. Gandalf would not have wanted Bilbo to go somewhere that he did think Bilbo was not equipped to go to.

Like Gandalf and Bilbo, God never really leaves us on our journeys through dark valleys and orc-infested areas. It might feel like he does at times, but that is just the fear talking. Even in our darkest times, God is there to guide us through green meadows and peaceful streams. No matter the circumstance, no matter the fears we face, God loves us as his children. God will walk with us through the darkness.

Going forward is the only way to go.

 

 

 

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Watch Me

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” –Deuteronomy 31:6

When I was younger, I loved to watch superhero cartoons. Everything from the X-Men to the Fantastic Four, I watched religiously. I loved watching all the heroes with their different super powers defeat the bad guys, saving the day. Everyone loved them because they were special and could do special things. I loved them for that, too.

As I grew older, I still loved my Marvel heroes, only more secretly. When you’re a teenage girl, you’re not really supposed to love comics and superheroes. I still loved how their unique personalities and special powers could affect the story lines. These characters were special to me because I was not special, or at least I didn’t feel that way in high school (But who does?). I wished that I could do special things like they could.

Today, I am a newly college graduate. I am having some difficulty with deciding what to do with my life. I’m not sure what to do, but I can feel my quarter life crisis beginning! Needless to say, I feel afraid of the future. I have doubted whether I can do anything special at all with my life. My worst fear has always been a life unlived. I don’t have any special super powers and I will probably never do anything as super as saving the world from Ultron….

Now that I’m older, I have come to love and appreciate some of the other Marvel characters besides the super heroes (i.e. Loki <3). One character in particular I’ve come to like is Agent Carter. I didn’t really know about her as a little kid, but she has become one of my absolute favorites. But, hold on….Agent Carter? She doesn’t even have any special powers! It probably wasn’t until I discovered Agent Carter did I realize that you don’t have to be super to be a hero.

Agent Carter was involved in espionage and special military work during a time when women could not really succeed in either. She could have done what society expected women to do, but instead she chose a different route. The world said, “no, you can’t”, but Agent Carter answered back, “Watch me”.

 Is any of this sounding familiar? Moses went through a trial similar to Agent Carter’s. Moses was minding his own business, living as a shepherd in the desert, when God called him to do something big: go to Pharaoh and lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. To this, Moses replied: “Who am I am I to appear before Pharaoh? “Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” – Exodus 3:11. And God told him: “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you.” –Exodus 3:12.

But again, Moses made excuses: “O Lord, I’m nor very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled. Lord, please, send anyone else!” –Exodus 4:10-13

Moses said, “No, I can’t”, but God answered back, “Watch me”.

Sometimes, we have an idea of what we would like to do with our lives. We think about where we want to go, when we want to do things…but then we stop. We panic over what might go wrong. What if we end up not liking the path we choose? What if people are unfriendly with us? What if we tell people what we want to do and they tell us, “No, you’ll never make it. You won’t do well in that area.” Do we agree with them, saying, “You’re right, I’ll do something with my life that you want me to do”? Or do we tell them, “Watch what I can do”?

Like Moses or Agent Carter, God can call on us to do things that seem too difficult. Whether it’s standing up to Pharaoh or breaking the molds of society, we say, “no, I can’t”. Moses wanted to hide behind his inadequacies. He was too afraid to fulfill the plans that God had for him. We come up with reasons why we can never fulfill the dreams we have for ourselves. We don’t have super powers to make us great. God doesn’t see it that way.

 

“Compromise where you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, no, you move”. – Agent Carter

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A New Hope

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….

Luke Skywalker lived on a farm with his aunt and uncle.  More than anything, Luke wanted to be a pilot, but his uncle needed him to stay and help on the farm.  Luke was stuck on Tatooine feeling like his life was going nowhere.  Luke’s life events had reached their ending point and he expected nothing else to come his way.

…or so he thought…

Have you ever just felt like you were stuck?  You’ve reached a point in your life where you just felt like, “What next?” or “Where is my life even going?”.  You can’t seem to come up with any plans for your future, besides maybe becoming a homeless bohemian traveling from place to place.  Asking for the advice of others does not seem to be much help, either.  Most people have told you just to “trust that God has things worked out”, to which you think, “this is serious, I need answers”.

“So be truly glad.  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show you that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.  So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”  -1 Peter 1:6-7

Reading this always helps me feel better.  Having gone through some of the struggles and set backs I have had over the last few years, this passage gives me confidence for the future.  It’s never really easy putting your trust in someone you can’t physically see or hear.  We watch others go forward in their lives while we continue to sit and wait for our own to take off.  Not all of us have the patience for something to come along.  So what do we do??

In my experience, the best we can do is to have confidence in God.  It’s stressful not knowing what we should spend our lives doing.  God knows how our lives will go and directs them the way they should go.  Not only can this passage apply to what we will do in the future, but also to how we feel.  We may be frustrated, suffering from the pain of an ended relationship, or not having faith in the future.  Whatever the case my be, our struggles will only strengthen our faith in God.

“…as fire tests and purifies gold”  Fire is hot and it hurts.  Trials can be a painful process to go through.  Once you are through it all, you will feel so much better.  Luke went through the trials of losing his aunt and uncle, having to battle the galactic empire and destroying the Death Star.  Although we may never have to go through trials quit this epic, it is nice to know that we have someone big we can rely on through troubling times.

So here’s to hoping that things work out.  That we don’t give into despair and bitterness in our wait for life to happen.  Let’s hope that we can get through these trials in our lives and come outwit a strengthened faith.

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“When your faith remains strong, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor”

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Because It’s the Right Thing

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“The Lord is good and dos what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray.  He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.”

-Psalm 25:8-9

 

Hello, everyone!

Sorry, for the lack of posts on here for a while, but it’s been a busy couple of months!  With every minute of my spare time going towards working on projects, I hadn’t really gotten a chance to come up with writing ideas for my site.  Now, with a couple of weeks without classes and assignments, I finally have time to write again!

Along with my free time came something I have been waiting years to finally do:  SEE STAR WARS EPISODE VII!  Now, I waited as long as I could to write this, so everyone should have seen it by now.  If you haven’t, then you might want to skip the next paragraph.

In this episode, the Empire is gone, but there is a new power, called the First Order.  Like the Empire, the First Order also uses storm troopers (not clones this time).  One in particular is Finn, one of our main characters.  At the beginning of the story, a rebel pilot is captured by the First Order and is being tortured for information.  Finn is instructed to moved him to a cell, but instead sneaks the pilot onto a Ti-Fighter.

The rebel pilot asks Finn why he, a storm trooper, would do this.

“Because, it’s the right thing to do.”  Finn tells him.

With this being the beginning of a new year, many of us want to make a fresh start.  We look back on this past year or 2015 at the good things and the bad things.  We can see that year as another learning experience or wonder where we went wrong.  We can sit and wonder to ourselves, “Was what I did right?”

We’re all sinners.  We have all done something bad or have had someone do something bad to us.  Even though he was working for the First Order (doing bad things for bad people) Finn wanted to start over and do something right.  Just because we sin doesn’t mean that we can’t be forgiven.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you refuse to forgive others, you Father will not forgive you.”

-Matthew 6:14

Starting over isn’t easy.  Making a fresh start can mean forgiving those who have done something that has hurt you.  Whether that act was intentional or not, it is important.  Asking God for forgiveness is easy, but giving it to others may not be.  If you want to start over and move on from what someone has done to you, the first step is forgiveness.  In my experience, not forgiving someone had stopped me from moving on with my life.  A certain area of my life was put on pause because I was too hurt and wrapped up in my own anger to find it in myself to forgive them at the time.

Like Finn, the storm trooper, we’ve done some things in the past we are not proud of.  We wish to start over, clean ourselves of our sins and be a better person.  So, like Finn, the rebel, We look to God to forgive us and ask for the strength to forgive others.

So, is forgiving the right thing to do?

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This Might Hurt…

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” -John 1:10-13

Hello, all!  It’s September now!  And you know what that means:  the start of another school year (boo!)!  And with the beginning of another year comes opportunities for new things.  New classes, learning new things, going to new places, meeting new people and starting new relationships.  Now that I’m a senior in college, I’ve found that time is running out to cross things off my college bucket list (yes, I have one).  One thing I have been hesitant to add to my list is a dating relationship.  Since my freshman year, I have tried and failed at making someone my boyfriend.  As the years have passed, the prospects of me getting into a serious relationship have become bleak.  I haven’t really given up…I’ve just stopped dwelling on this “problem” and have since moved on to more important things…like graduating.
Back when I was an underclassman, I felt like I was given the snub by God when it came to having my wish for a boyfriend granted.  I didn’t understand if it were my fault or God’s for being single for so long.  I didn’t understand what made everyone else so special that they could date since junior high and I couldn’t.  Like I said before, I tried and failed at relationships in college.  I’ve been led on, rejected, tossed to the side because I wouldn’t sleep with them, and told the things I enjoyed made me “too much of a friend”.  So, instead of asking God for help with this like I should have, I decided to get angry with Him.  I even went so far as to decide that I didn’t trust Him because he didn’t know me or what I wanted.
At some point, we all have this love/hate relationship with God.  We get upset because He doesn’t give us what we want or we don’t think we’re good enough for Him.  Some of us decide to walk out of the relationship, never to return.  While God does love us, it’s up to us to decide how the relationship will go and how we define it.
Our relationship with God can, in a way, be compared to that of Thor and Loki.  Related by blood or not, Thor still loves Loki.  After countless mistakes, evil plots or attempts to kill him, Thor still finds it in his heart to forgive Loki.  In both comics and movies, Thor continuously expresses his love towards his brother.
While Loki is told time after time that he is loved, he either refuses to believe it or rejects it.  Loki doesn’t believe that he is as loved as Thor.  He doesn’t believe that Thor knows what it’s like to be hurt or struggle, and so he gets angry with Thor.
Like Loki and Thor, we can do the same with God.  When we don’t get our way, we get upset.  When we have our hearts broken and we get hurt, who do we get angry at?  Of course, we get angry with God.  God couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to have His heart thrown on the ground and stomped on, could he?  Loki didn’t think Thor knew what it felt like to lose something and suffer.
Thor was thrown out of his home by his own father.  Thor lost his hammer.  Thor had his arm cut off by Malekith.  Thor lost Jane to cancer.  Thor lost Loki multiple times.  How many times in the history of the world has someone said they didn’t believe in God?  How many times has someone said they didn’t want anything to do with God or talk to Him?  I think even the creator of the universe knows what it’s like to get hurt.
I thought having another person to love and be in a relationship would fix all my problems.  But all these attempts at love did nothing but bring me misery.  Like Thor, God is always there, coming to us in love, but like Loki, we continuously reject him for different reasons.
Being rejected hurts.  We can go so far as to make elaborate plans for that special person, fix the Bifrost to find them, or do as God did and send our own son to die.  Even with doing all those big things, others can still choose not to love us back.
Unlike people, God is always there.  It can be a complicated relationship, but it can’t be any more complicated than saying you love someone one minute and the next, you’re sending the entire Chitaurie army after them (Avengers reference…just go with it).  It may be a hard relationship sometimes, but it’s one that’s worth it.
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Waiting For a Purpose

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” –Proverbs 16:9

Hello, all!  So, if you haven’t noticed by now, I really like reading Thor and Loki comic book series and tying them into my examples here.  While I would normally just make this a post focusing on them, this one has more to do with the Silver Surfer than Thor and Loki.

I was reading an issue of The Mighty Thor series the other day.  Here, in this issue, the world eater, Galactus, falls to earth and lands in Broxton, Oklahoma where he threatens to destroy the world.  While Thor, Odin and everyone else are busy fighting the Silver Surfer, there is no one left to face Galactus.  Just when all hope seems lost, Mike, a small, old man and a citizen of Broxton, stands up to Galactus.  Galactus is a giant who destroys worlds and Mike is a below-average height elderly man.  Because he fears for the safety of the people of Broxton, Mike simply asks Galactus to stop and have mercy on the people…to which Galactus answers, “no”.  Long story short, Thor, the Silver Surfer and the Destroyer show up and stop Galactus.

Now, if you’re not familiar with the Silver Surfer and what he does, he works for Galactus as a messenger.

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Mike felt as though he had failed in his attempts to help everyone.  He sat alone and thought, “What’s the point?  What am I even doing?  I’m single, no family and I have no idea what I’m doing.”  All Mike wanted was to keep everyone in his town safe, but he felt as though his attempt was less important compared to what the gods had done to stop Galactus.

“But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you”– Acts 26:16

It’s not easy to feel like your life has an important purpose.  I often end up questioning what I’m doing here and where I’m going.  I still don’t think I know the answer yet.  As with Mike, sometimes it feels like no one wants to listen and we’re just drifting through life until it comes to an end.  The Silver Surfer assured Mike that his efforts were not wasted ones.  The Silver Surfer was so impressed that a small human would stand before the giant Galactus and simply asked for peace while others more powerful than Mike were ready to fight. He heard the little voice of Mike clearly.  Mike was such an ordinary person, and yet he fascinated someone like the Silver Surfer.

I think of myself as ordinary and boring most times.  Like Mike, I think, what could I possibly do with my life?  Nothing important or exciting, that’s for sure.   There’s things and people I care about, but what’s the point if I could lost them all one day?  I don’t understand how God could have a plan for me.  I don’t understand how he comes up with purposes for each one of us.  Why are some life purposes so different from others?  Why is it that some of us grow up to be the Silver Surfer and find their purpose right away, while others are like Mike where they feel ordinary and have to wait and wait until they find their purpose?  I wish I could understand what my purpose in life is, or even knew what it was.  Maybe it’s something we’re not meant to understand.
At the end of this issue, the Silver Surfer tells Galactus that he is stepping down from his position as Galactus’ messenger.  Galactus asks the SS if he is unhappy being his messenger.  The SS says no, but while he stood by Galactus ready to fight and kill, he watched  a man stand up to him.  The SS passes on his Job to Mike, finally finding his purpose as the new Surfer, traveling through the universe and exploring mysterious worlds not even the gods know about.  Our purposes in life may not be that wonderful and exciting, but hopefully God can make them close to that 🙂
We’ve become so used to getting things right when we want them in this time.  So, when something we want in life doesn’t come when we’d really like it to, we get frustrated.  We might even just give up on what we really want to do in life, thinking it will never come or we weren’t meant to do it.  I never wanted to be like Mike, having to wait forever until I found my purpose.  But, I’m still young, I still have time to figure things out.  I’ve come to learn that not everything happens right at once.  Some things, like a purpose, can be worth the wait.

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“The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” – Isaiah 14:24

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What Can Revenge Do For You?

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” –Matthew 5:38-39

If you read my “Lesson From Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver” post, you might remember me mention a particular person and how I would have liked nothing better than to get back at them for hurting me.  I soon began thinking of clever ways in which I could get revenge for having my feelings hurt in such a disrespectful way.  It was so tempting to makes him feel as hurt as he made me.  The only thing stopping me was when I wondered, “Is this the right thing to do?”

I hope you all know the story of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader.  I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to both mine and Anakin’s situations.  When Anakin returned home after being away for Jedi training, he is told that his mother, Shmi, had been taken by a group of Tuscan Raiders.  Anakin goes to save Schmi, but his efforts were in vain as Shmi dies right when Anakin finally finds her.

Sorry, for the Attack of the Clones clip :-/  But as you saw, Anakin did what any of us would have done:  he got angry and wanted to get back at the people who did him wrong (which he did).  But even when he killed the first few Tuscan Raiders, that still wasn’t enough.  He even killed the ones who probably had nothing to do with Shmi’s death.  Even after he had gotten his revenge, Anakin still felt angry and unsatisfied.

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”- Romans 12:17-21

I felt like Anakin, in a way.  I let myself be absorbed by my anger and bitterness for this person who hurt me.  Like Anakin, I was thinking of ways I could stand up for myself and return the pain this particular person had caused me.  But as I was stewing in my saltiness, a voice in the back of my head asked, “Would this be right?  Would it make me feel any better?  What’s the real purpose of doing this? “  Was Anakin satisfied after he got his revenge?  Revenge wasn’t an “I’ll only do it once”  kind of thing for Anakin on his road to the Dark Side.  Like Anakin, we can let our emotions get the best of us and cause us to make impulsive decisions we may later regret (probably why Jedis don’t live by emotions) This one act of revenge caused him to do more things that Anakin thought was ok, but really they weren’t.  All these things turned Anakin into someone he didn’t recognize.  All of his feelings of anger and unsatisfactory with not getting his way only turned him into something evil.

Thinking about how Anakin’s revenge lead him to turn to the Dark Side only made me wonder if getting my revenge was truly worth it.  As said in the scripture above, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all”  Easier said than done.  It’s still tempting to get back at this person, but right thing to do would to let it go and more on with my life.

“I will take revenge; I will pay them back.  In due time their feet will slip.  Their day of disaster will arrive and their destiny will over take them.  Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free”- Deuteronomy 32:35-36

i took this as a “what goes around, comes around” kind of thing.  To me, this says, why spend your time plotting your revenge when they’ll get what’s coming to them?  Why rely on your own understanding when you have God behind you?  This one person is just a bar in a prison I have been building for myself.  I really don’t have to let this person make me feel upset and bitter.  Revenge does sound like fun, but It’s all up to you whether you choose to let go and move on, or give in like Anakin.  May the Force be with you.

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”-Romans 12:19

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Living to Please

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“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” – Philippians 2:3-5

 I love Thor.  I love Loki.  I really love Thor and Loki the same.  By now you’re wondering, “But Loki is bad and Thor is good.  You can’t love them the same!”  I thought that, too, when I saw the first Thor movie.  He was just a mean guy with a funny hat.  It wasn’t until I started reading the Loki comics and Thor 2 came out did I have something for Loki that wasn’t there before.  Then, I started liking Loki MORE than Thor, even though Thor was my first love.  So, was one really better than the other?

Being the nerd that I am, I tend to find a lot of comparisons between Christianity and Marvel’s Thor and Loki.  In all my years of being a Christian, I’ve come to realize that there are two groups of us:  Christians who look to please God and Christians who look to please people. That brings me to my comparison of Thor Christians and Loki Christians.

Thor Christians usually seem perfect and have everything going right for them.  They have those special Christian abilities, they do good and everyone looks up to them because of that.  But maybe they didn’t always have it so good.  Like Thor, they may have started out selfish and arrogant.  These people were looking to please God, but to please people.  They were not interested in serving others unless there was something in it for them, as well.  Then, something happens to them that changes their whole perspective on things.  As the story goes, Thor did not show humility until he lost his god-powers and had to live on Earth as a human.  Jesus laid aside his rights as God to live among us as a human.  We are asked to follow Jesus’ example by not being selfish or try to impress others with our special Christian powers.  We are asked to humble ourselves and have joy in serving others.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” –Philippians 2:13

Loki Christians seem to have more of a struggle than Thor Christians.  Like Loki, these Christians are loved, but are not aware that they are.  Loki had the love of his parents, Thor, fangirls, but it still wasn’t enough.  He was felt empty and lost.  Loki Christians feel like they have to work for the approval of others and are jealous of what other Christians can do.  They let their hearts build up with jealousy and bitterness until it consumes them.  Loki Christians continue looking for the answer as to why they are unhappy.  As Loki did, we might start out perfectly fine and willing to serve God, but then we begin to question things.  We wonder why we can’t be better or why God doesn’t give us the things that everyone else has in life.  Loki wanted to be as good, if not better, as Thor.  Loki became angry in his suffering, which lead him to become selfish and arrogant.  We can become this way, too, and become angry with God for not doing what we want Him to do in our selfishness.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” –Romans 5:3-4

If I may use an analogy here: God=Odin, Thor/Loki=us.  Odin disciplined Thor when he became out of control with his selfishness and arrogance.  God does the same for us.  He may send us through trials so that we can learn a lesson in order to better ourselves and show more humility.  Loki already had the love of Odin, but still felt as though he had to work for it.  We can feel as though we still have to work for and impress God to get His love and approval, even though we already have it.  We don’t need to work, or be angry with God for anything.  Odin didn’t favor Thor or Loki more than the other.  Thor wasn’t better than Loki just because he had Mjolnir.  Loki wasn’t better than Thor just because he could use magic.  One group of Christians aren’t better than another group of Christians just because they go on mission trips.  God doesn’t favor Thor Christians or Loki Christians over the other one because He loves us all just the same.

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Scars

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” -Romans 5:3-5

So, not sure if you’ve notice, but I’ve been focusing on reading Romans this past month.  I was reading through about the law God gave us, sin, the usual.  Then, the scripture above caught my attention.  Rejoice in suffering?  Why in the world would anyone want to rejoice when they’re suffering?  After all, we’re only human, so we should have the right to feel miserable when we’re going through a hard time, right?  So, I thought about it and discussed it some more until it finally made sense to me.

We can rejoice in suffering because we know that it can help us develop character and endurance.  When we’re going through a hard time, we will usually talk to God more, asking Him for help or guidance and later rejoice.  So suffering produces character, but is this always a good thing?  Depends on who you ask.

I found two guys who show a perfect example of suffering and character:  Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

Both Harry and Voldemort come from similar backgrounds.  As children, both were raised by muggles who didn’t care for them.  Neither Harry or Tom Riddle (a.k.a Voldemort) were accepted.  Harry was always picked on by his cousin Dudley and his gang of friends.  Tom was branded as being “odd” in the orphanage.  Both were orphans and neither one was really shown love of any kind growing up. So with all of these similarities, shouldn’t they both have grown up to be the same kind of person?  Why didn’t Harry, raised by his own relations who hated him, not grow up to be more like Voldemort?  Why wasn’t Harry more bitter?

The way I see it, we can choose to either be like Harry or be like Voldemort in our times of suffering.
If you’re like Harry, you may have a more positive view on your situation.  In your suffering, you remember that you have God on your side and rejoice in that.  For if there we didn’t suffer once in a while, how would we rejoice God?  You have collected a number of scars (whether on your heart or your forehead) from your experiences.  You look at them, remembering your past situations.  You see these scars as something you took away from an experience that helped to form the character that you now have.

If you’re like Voldemort, you may have a more negative view on your situation.  Whatever you’ve been through, you have let it make you into an angry, bitter person.  You would rather blame God for your misfortunes rather than seek Him and ask for the strength to get through it.  You let your scars turn you into something you’re not.

Character building comes from suffering.  Harry and Tom were two different people whose character outcome was based on how they chose to handle things.  Tom had a miserable childhood.  He was angry and vengeful against his father for abandoning him and his mother.  People always saw him as weird, and it hurt.  Tom lost hope and let his character be twisted into a dark and bitter person. Harry had a miserable childhood full of neglect and bullying, as well, and yet he didn’t let it twist him into something that he wasn’t.

“Hope does not disappoint.”-Romans 5:2

Sometimes spiritual growth means we have to suffer and struggle. I believe that God gives us these trials of suffering for a reason.  He might not give them to us as a punishment, but  more like a lesson.  How we handle our time during the suffering proves to God what kind of person we are and how our characters develop through it.  I know that I’ve been a Voldemort in many times of suffering. It’s caused be to have a negative view on many things in life.  I let my scars turn me into someone I never used to be, and I don’t like it.  At the same time, my scars have also helped me become the person I am today, which is a good thing.  I just need to make those scars more in the shapes of lightening bolts rather than the Deatheater sign 😉

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Who’s Judging Who?

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”-Romans 2:1

We have all been guilty of judging someone else at one point.  We may judge others for partying on the weekends or for something as small as what they do with their hair.  We judge our fellow humans for a number of different reasons.  We may do it because of where we come from in life and judge others on their lifestyle.  We can judge even when we don’t know all the details.  It seems as though being judgmental has become a natural part of life.  There is no escape from it.  Once that thought of judgment passes through your head, you have the choice to either act out your judging or forget it and accept that person.

So what happens when we judge?  When we condemn others for their sins, we can be just as bad as them.  If we judge other people, how can we avoid God’s judgement on us?

This brings me to the story of a man named Ra’s al Ghul.  This Batman villain reminds me a lot of how most Christians can be towards other people sometimes.  Ra’s was a criminal mastermind and his goal was to bring the world into a perfect, peaceful balance.  Sounds like a nice goal, right?  Well, Ra’s believed that the only way to bring perfect balance to the world was to kill off most of humanity.  Mainly anyone whom Ra’s and the League of Shadows considered to be “bad”.  Ra’s seemed to think that it was his job to pass judgement on others.  Whoever Ra’s saw as “evil” or “unfit” in the world, he eliminated.  Ra’s saw himself as the good guy.  All he wanted was to make the world better, but the way he carried out his plans made him into the villain.

“Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” -Romans 2:2-4

In the scene from the clip, you saw that Ra’s believe he saw terrible people in Gotham City.  He looked at the way those people lived, their actions and all of the crime plaguing the city and decided it needed to be destroyed.  Ra’s was judging Gotham.  Then, Bruce Wayne stood up to Ra’s and told him that not everyone in Gotham was evil.  Just because what people did was not always right or not everyone was pure didn’t mean that they deserved to die.  Bruce was rebuking Gotham, which is something that we should do to others.  Rebuke and not judge.

If we want to, we can live our lives as Ra’s al Ghul:  dark, bitter and limiting relationships with other people.  We can believe that we are living by God’s law and think that we are better than other people who don’t.  But just because we are following the rules doesn’t mean that we are being good people.  Ra’s thought that he was a good person for destroying who he thought was evil, but was it the right thing to do?

We can also live life the way Bruce saw:  believing that not everyone who didn’t always do right was bad.  We’ve all done bad things ourselves, judging being one of them.  If we see it as our right to judge other people, what will God’s judgement be on us?  We, as humans, weren’t made for judging.  It’s God’s job to do, not ours.  Unfortunately, we do it anyway.  When we sin, God shows us mercy and kindness.  If God can be patient with us, we should try and be patient with other people and not judge them.  God loves even the bad people the same as He does anyone else.  God has no favorites and does not love anyone more than someone else.

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